BY RJ SMITHPHOTOGRAPHY BY SHAUN RING

PIERCE W. HAMBLIN GREETS VISITORSwarmly. “Come in! I have a gift for you,” hesays with a grin. He smiles while you waitfor it. Then he pulls out a bag of M&Ms.He likes to make a good first impression.He likes to make a good last impression,too, as well as a good everything-in-between impression.

This is not hard for the 6-foot- 7
litigator, mediator and teacher, muscular-hulky at age 63 like a Kentucky oak. He
has achieved an impressive distinction
in each of the fields he has entered. But
when you meet him, what most comes
across is a will to connect.

Hamblin is a partner at Landrum &Shouse, which employed him 37 yearsago, fresh from law school. He was bornin Lexington and has remained there eversince. When he was growing up, Lexingtonhad about 25,000 people, and it seemedlike everyone knew everyone else. With apopulation of more than 300,000, it doesn’tfeel like it’s changed that much. “It still hasthat small-town culture to it,” he says. “It’sfriendly, and you can go five miles any wayfrom my building and you will be in horse-farm country. So at the end of the day, afterfighting in court or doing tough mediations,one can take a five-mile jaunt and be in apeaceful place. I find that comforting.”The defense lawyer has made areputation primarily for his work oninsurance cases. When someone is in anaccident and is sued, his or her insurancecompany hires Hamblin to represent itsclient. He has worked many productsliability, automobile accident, and medicaland legal malpractice cases.

Hamblin cites as noteworthy examples apair of “negligent-pursuit” cases involvingpolice who faced civil suits after high-speed chases ended in car crashes in whichpeople died. “In Kentucky there have been,in the last five or six decades, only three orfour of these things tried to verdict,” notesHamblin. “And I’ve been in two of them,so I take a lot of pride in that fact.” In bothcases, “the jury came back in favor of whatI believe to be good officers and publicservants. While I certainly took no joywhatsoever in the facts and results of theaccident, I believe justice was done.”In 2006 Hamblin took a chance andbegan exploring the growing field ofmediation and arbitration. It paid off. Inrecent years, mediation has emerged asan ever-more important means of settlingconflicts as costs have skyrocketed just toget a case to the courthouse steps.

“Even a straightforward whiplash case,where your car is hit from the rear, takesthousands of dollars to get in front of ajudge and jury,” he says. And after 37 years,“I still cannot tell you what a jury is goingto do. So the risk is great for both sides toget a resolution for folks.”The essence of mediation he says, is inidentifying two values common to everycase, then molding them into a single wayforward. The first is the human value, orthe personal cost. It’s what a victim wouldexplain over the dinner table: “Let me tellyou how this accident has affected my lifeand my family’s life.” It’s something youcan’t put a price tag on, so it can be hardfor people to cast aside in mediation.Then there’s what Hamblin calls thelegal value. It’s what a mediator is there tohelp the parties see. It amounts to gettingthem to ask themselves, “If I tell my sideof the story to 12 strangers and the otherparty tells their side of the story to the same12 strangers, what is the jury going to dofor me?” It’s hard for injured parties to do,Hamblin notes, because they have to puttheir tragedy aside and examine both sides.“I tell them very straight up, ‘I don’tknow if I can sit in this chair today and dowhat you want to do to settle this case.

If someone hurt my family, I don’t know
if I could set it aside. But if you’re bigger
than I am, you’re going to have to set that
aside.’” It’s a humble and canny strategy
for bringing parties together. “You’ve got
to be very fair to both sides—mediators